REPORT GJ THE BIRDS — ATLANTIC ISLANDS, KERGUELEN, ETC. 



Ill 



most interesting details concerning the physical character, animals, and vegetation of 

 these islands have been given by Sir Wyville Thomson (The Atlantic, vol. ii. p. 151) and 

 Mr Moseley (Naturalist on the Challenger, p. 108). 



The only previously published notes on the birds of the Tristan da Cunha group 

 are, I believe, those of Captain Carmichael * in the Linnean Transactions. 



The land-birds collected by the Challenger consist of twelve skins referable to two 

 species, namely — 



1. Nesocichla eremita (PI. XXI II.). 



Tardus guianensis (?), Carm., Trans. Linn. Soc, vol. xii. p. 496. 



Nesocichla eremita, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1855, p. 165; Scl., Ilu'il., 1878, p. 577. 



Of this curious Thrush, of which a figure (taken from specimen f) is now given 

 for the first time, seven examples were obtained in Tristan da Cunha on the 15th 



Head, foot and wing of Nesocichla eremita. 



of October 1873. These specimens are not determined as to sex, but as they are all 

 alike we may conclude that the female does not differ in plumage from the male. The 

 eye is marked as " black " upon all the specimens. 



This Thrush is found also on Inaccessible Island, as we learn from Mr Moseley's 

 notes. Having landed on this island on the 1 7th of October, and passed through a large 

 Penguin-rookery situated in the tussock-grass (Spartina arundinacea), Mr Moseley 

 entered a small copse of Phylica arbor ea {pp. cit., p. 121). Here he found this Thrush 

 hopping and fluttering about in abundance. It feeds especially on the bright red 

 berries of Nertera depressa, but is also to be seen picking the bones of other birds that 

 have fallen victims to the Skuas (Stercorarius antarctic us). The Thrush breeds in the 



1 Some Account of the Island of Tristan da Cunha and of its Natural Productions. By Captain Dugald Carmichael, 

 F.L.S., Trans. Linn. Soc, vol. xii. p. 483. 



